Paula Hamilton has appeared in court accused of assaulting a police officer at her home in Buckinghamshire.

The Celebrity Big Brother star is alleged to have struck Dominic Matheson in the early hours of September 29 last year after he responded to reports that she was threatening to kill herself.

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The former supermodel, who denies the charges, apparently ripped the head off a sunflower in her garden before hitting Matheson. She insists she was trying to give him the flower as a gift.

She told Aylesbury Magistrates' Court: "I can prove through Prince Charles, through his estate, that unless you have secateurs you cannot cut a sunflower at that time of the season

"I would never, ever use a sacred sunflower - our family crest - to hurt anybody. It was a present. I misbalanced on my feet because I had four toes broken. The only toe that wasn't broken was my big toe. I lost my balance.

"I'm an anthropologist, a philanthropist. I would never use my family crest to assault a police officer, that would be sacrilege.

"I have 11 brothers and sisters and 18 nieces and nephews. We were going to come and fill this court room full of flowers but we thought it might upset you."

Hamilton said she had drunk a bottle of wine on the evening in question after splitting from her boyfriend. She also claims to have been attacked by a police dog in the weeks before the incident.

"I had been bitten from head to toe by a police dog. It went through to my pumping organs, my kidney, liver and heart and ripped out my two front teeth," the Daily Mail quotes her as saying.

"I was completely bereft by this action as I have always loved animals and have hand-raised wolves and released them back into the wild."

She alleges that police officers beat her after arriving at her home and later took her to a police station while she was wearing nothing but a coat.

"The policeman dead-armed each arm and stamped on my broken foot again. He knew what he was doing, he had seen the police report of my injuries. He knew I am a climber and he knew who I was.

"He wanted his name in the papers. They took me to the police station in a coat - no underwear, nothing. I'm so sorry for wasting your time over a sunflower. I would never hurt a police officer, I'm pro-police."

The case was adjourned until later in the month when a verdict will be reached.